Saving Sandra - An AARP Medical Mystery

A journey from unbearable pain to unlikely salvation.

On January 5, 2022, Sandra Carlson planned to end her life. 

At 53, she needed a walker to take a few steps. Even with it, she crashed to the ground. Her left leg was cold, paralyzed, with searing pain ripping through it. She took the opioid painkiller Dilaudid — at least four times stronger than morphine — every day. The drug barely took the edge off the pain and left her nauseated and fuzzy-headed. She had lost control of her bowels.

This had been Carlson’s life for two years. Yet visits to a series of specialists near her Savannah, Georgia, home and at hospitals, major medical centers and emergency rooms in two other states hadn’t yielded a diagnosis or treatment. “I couldn’t take any more,” she says. “I was absolutely exhausted and tired of hurting. My life was done.”

Then her mysterious condition got even worse.

Requires AARP membership to view . . .

https://www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/members-only-access/info-2025/mystery-pain-condition.html

Fighting Inflammation Naturally - Harvard Health

Science has proven that chronic, low-grade inflammation can turn into a silent killer that contributes to cardiovas­cular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and other conditions. 

The fact that three out of five people around the world die from a disease linked to inflammation raises serious red flags.

Thankfully, there is plenty you can do to fight back.

Step #1: Eat to beat inflammation. Harvard experts warn that many “anti-inflammatory diets” are not grounded in science.  In this Special Report, you’ll discover the three best diet choices—plus essential food “do’s and don’ts” to help suppress inflammation levels.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/promotions/harvard-health-publications/fighting-inflammation

7 WAYS TO INCREASE BONE DENSITY

Increase Your Calcium Intake

Calcium is an essential nutrient for bone health and bone density. It's naturally found in milk, salmon, almonds, and leafy greens like spinach and kale. Research shows that dietary supplementation of calcium and vitamin D can help decrease the risk of fracture (breaks in bone) in postmenopausal women.4

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of calcium is 1,200 milligrams per day for women aged 51 and over and 1,000 milligrams per day for men aged 51 and over. However, many postmenopausal women consume less than this recommended amount.5

Experts recommend that older adults supplement with 400-800 milligrams of calcium daily (in addition to calcium from foods) to ensure adequate calcium intake and protect bone health. It's important not to exceed the RDA as very high levels of calcium supplementation have been associated with increased risks of kidney stones and heart attack.

https://www.health.com/how-to-build-bone-density-8787545?hid=c3b4f7bafb2200712f70c04cb44919433fd8a6fd&did

2025 SOCIAL SECURITY PAYMENT SCHEDULE

Contrary to what you may have read or heard, the 2025 payment schedule remains unchanged.

If you receive SSI, your SSI payment is on the 1st of the month and your SSA benefit is paid on the 3rd.

To find your NEXT SSA payment, login to SSA

https://secure.ssa.gov/SiView.action

And scroll down the opening page to Benefits and Payments, then look for Social Security (Retirement) for your benefit amount and NEXT payment date.

The payment schedule for 2025 can be found at this link . . .

 https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10031-2025.pdf

Amazon Email Scam

Just when you thought you knew how to avoid online scams, fraudsters have gotten trickier—and more convincing. Many of them have started to send emails impersonating popular retailers. The most common type of this scam is the Amazon email scam— not surprising given that Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer.

In fact, Amazon scams account for one in three business impersonation scams, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Amazon reports that, since late 2024, 70% of scams that customers have reported have tried to uncover customer account information and payment details—typically via fake emails.

“An Amazon email scam can look exactly like a real Amazon email, or can be poorly crafted, and everything in between,” according to Alex Hamerstone, a director with the security-consulting firm TrustedSec. “But the core scams are usually pretty similar, as are the risks, the ways to prevent them, and the recommended response.”

https://www.rd.com/article/amazon-email-scam

Any email containing the following . . . You have been selected . . . You may have won . . . . Last chance, or Final offer . . . is almost always a scam.

11 Million Will Lose Health Insurance . . . Click Bait

(Big print) . . .House Republicans' tax bill would lead to nearly 11 million people losing health insurance, providing a key source of savings to help finance President Trump's tax cuts, according to projections that nonpartisan congressional scorekeepers published Wednesday.

The official projections from the Congressional Budget Office give Democrats ammunition to attack Republicans for taking insurance from low-income voters to pay for tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the rich. Most Republicans say the bill only takes insurance from those without jobs who are able to work and that pregnant women, children, people with disabilities, and frail older adults will not be affected.

https://www.statnews.com/2025/06/04/trump-tax-bill-health-care-impact-cbo-says-nearly-11-million-people-will-lose-insurance/

(Behind a paywall)

(Small print) . . . About 7.8 million people would lose Medicaid coverage, while much of the rest of the losses would stem from the Affordable Care Act's exchanges. Among those losing coverage would be 1.4 million immigrants and others who don't have, or can't prove, a legal status that would give them access to insurance. The bill imposes new restrictions on health insurance targeted at states that use their own funds to cover undocumented immigrants.

Also most/all would lose coverage due to Medicaid work requirements for able bodied people, plus those that were not legally eligible for Medicaid due to immigrant status, or other usual eligibility requirements.

A number of folks on Medicaid who have not had their eligibility verified in several years.

Basically, those who could be kicked off Medicaid or ACA never should have qualified from the start.

Only in Georgia

Travel tips for places to visit, things to see and restaurants serving some of the best meals . . . all within a day’s drive. Explore new places. Plan trips including overnight. And more . . .

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/georgia

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/food/georgia/internationally-recognized-dining-experience-ga

Looking Ahead to 2026 . . .

Expect higher Part D premiums, smaller formularies and fewer overall choices. 

For 2025 we only have 12 stand alone Part D plans. This is down from 30 just 2 years ago.

I will need your current medication list by 9/15 if you want me to run comparison reports.

There will also be fewer Medigap carriers and at least one carrier (Allstate) has already said they will exit the market by July 1. Making matters worse, in some states they are raising rates by 30% at renewal.

I never picked them up as a carrier so none of my clients will have to face this mess.

Stay well!

Bob & Rachel Vineyard